Hope you enjoyed your trial.

Hey there, time traveller!This article was published 20/12/2012 (1740 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man who cut himself and tried to sign papers in blood because he was frustrated with MPI has been ordered to do community service work.

"I’m not a mental health specialist. It just seems a little odd," Judge Krystyna Tarwid commented as she sentenced Gary Philip Quinn in Brandon court this week.

Quinn, 48, pleaded guilty to causing a disturbance.

Crown attorney Grant Hughes said Quinn was at the Manitoba Public Insurance office on First Street on June 27.

Unhappy with his dealings with MPI, Quinn pulled out a folding knife from its leather case and sliced a 2 1/2-inch cut into his left forearm.

He then took some documents that MPI wanted him to sign and attempted to sign them in blood.

Police were notified that Quinn had then left in a vehicle and he was stopped on the 100-block of Van Horne Avenue East and arrested.

The knife was found in the vehicle inside its leather case.

Quinn had a shallow, slightly bleeding cut to his forearm and was taken to hospital.

Quinn had a shallow, slightly bleeding cut to his forearm and was taken to hospital.

His lawyer, Bob Harrison, told court that Quinn was frustrated with MPI over the licensing or registration of a snowmobile.

MPI was charging Quinn $159, which he believed he shouldn’t have to pay. Quinn believed MPI staff weren’t listening to him, Harrison said.

So Quinn cut himself to make a point.

Quinn told Tarwid that he believed that he’d been forced to pay a fee that he shouldn’t have — if MPI wanted his money "for nothing," then they could have his blood too.

Quinn described the cut on his arm as three-quarter-inch long and said he didn’t mean any harm.

Harrison asked Tarwid to sentence his client with a conditional discharge.

But Tarwid said a discharge wasn’t appropriate and imposed a one-year suspended sentence with orders that Quinn take counselling as directed, including mental health counselling and do 50 hours of community service work.

Tarwid also said that Quinn could have blood-spotted papers — which were seized by police — back or he can at least have copies if MPI makes claim to the originals.